7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
An assassin goes to Thailand in order to solve a kidnapping case linked to him, and finds himself chased by a man whose sibling he killed.
Starring: Hwang Jung-min, Lee Jung-jae, Park Jeong-min, Hakuryû, Park Myeong-hoonForeign | 100% |
Crime | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Korean: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Korean: Dolby Digital 2.0
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The surprising part of Deliver Us From Evil is not that it, um, borrows certain ideas from a coterie of films, which is hardly a surprising thing in the movie business, but that it manages to, well, deliver some visceral action sequences and at least a hint or two of honest human emotion in its story of a hitman attempting to retire (yeah, right), only to get sucked into a kidnapping scenario involving his sweet (estranged) daughter. If In-nam (Jung-min Hwang) as a former member of South Korea's National Intelligence Agency and then hired assassin obviously has a "particular set of skills", he's trying desperately to put those skills to rest, anticipating a retirement with pretty significant piles of cash, after his supposed "last job" takes out a gangster named Koraeda. The opening moments of the film document both In-nam's facility at murder for hire, but then also introduces a woman named Young-joo (Hee-seo Choi) and her darling little girl Yoo-min (So-yi Park). Young-joo drops Yoo-min off at school, reminding her that she'll be picked up by a babysitter after school that day, since Young-joo is involved in a business transaction involving the purchase of a huge resort with a golf course. It probably goes without saying that prescient viewers will already have the fine hairs standing up on the back of their necks, and in fact, the upshot of all of this prefatory material is that Yoo-min is kidnapped by the babysitter, Young-joo is killed, and in a none too surprising set of plot developments, it turns out that In-nam is Yoo-min's father. And so the hunt is on.
Deliver Us From Evil is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb lists Arri Alexas and a 4K DI as relevant datapoints, and the 4K DI in particular may account for this presentation's typically excellent levels of fine detail. As can probably be pretty easily made out in many of the screenshots accompanying this review, several long swaths of the film are almost bathed in a sickly yellow tone (which sometimes almost starts verging on yellow-green territory), but commendably clarity is at least relatively consistent and detail levels can be very appealing. Despite the almost jaundiced appearance, other colors pop surprisingly well, with blues and especially reds looking extremely vivid at times. There are some other interesting grading and/or lighting choices on display which can often coat the frame in various hues (see screenshot 12 for one example).
Deliver Us From Evil features a propulsive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that provides regular engagement of the side and rear channels, as well as some extremely forceful LFE. The film has requisite set pieces which involve everything from hand to hand combat to gunfire to car chases to car chases with explosions, and as a result the surround channels often provide a wealth of effects work. An energetic score by Mowg also offers good immersion. Interestingly, the US Trailer included as a supplement suggests an English dubbed version was release, but there is not an English language track on the disc. Optional English subtitles are available.
You're not going to find anything very inventive in terms of the basic storyline at play in Deliver Us From Evil, but that fact perhaps makes it even more remarkable how energetic this film regularly is. The scenes with Ray really bristle with a rare, discomfiting menace, and if In-nam makes for a somewhat more traditional morally compromised (anti?) hero, there's still enough of an emotional tether courtesy of his relationship with his daughter to give things at least some aspect of relatively real feeling emotion. The addition of Yui is arguably this film's best asset, giving the story a more deliberate tug of the heartstrings. Technical merits are solid, and Deliver Us From Evil comes Recommended.
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